The participation Paradox The participation paradox individual votes rarely have any effect on the outcome of an election One vote doesn t effect anything but people vote because o 1st theory by Downs Cost benefit analysis theory We compare what it would cost us to go vote what would be missing if we go vote o 2dn theory life cycle theory This encourages us to vote more as we get older As you get older government has more involvement in our decisions Importance of voting voting legitimizes our government and our choices By voting we say we authorize the government to make decisions for us Voting is a symbol of free democracy and it allows a peaceful transition of political power Most important demographic variables are education income and age o More likely to vote more education you understand how the decisions made by our leader affect me more aware more income taxes how it could affect your business older individuals they have nothing else to do and strong interest in politics or identification with a major party Who can vote A citizen of USA at least 18 years old a resident of the state o For texas you have to be 18 years resident of state and register 30 days before the election Who can t vote Those who have been declared mentally incompetent in formal court proceedings those convicted of a felony who have not been pardoned and they can t vote until after two calendar years from the completion of the sentence How do you register You have to register if you want to vote o In person or by mail at any time of the year up to thirty days before the election o While renewing a driver s license o You get your voter s card after you register and will have to show you id to vote In 1991 the legislature authorized early voting You can vote before the election 2 week voting period Voter Turnout in the United States and Texas Voter turnout the proportion of eligible Americans who vote How many people that voted The voting age population VAP has grown at a much faster rate than the actual voting population How many people that can vote 18 other restrictions Two main reasons for the drop in voter turnout in the United States after the 1960s o 26th amendment lowered voting age from 21 to 18 in 1972 Younger people don t care to vote so it caused a drop because now younger people are added into the percentage of people who vote o The drop in identification with the two major political parties Currently 1 3 of all Americans now consider themselves independents Reasons for Low Voter Turnout in texas Historical limitations o Poll tax you have to pay to vote If you don t have much money you won t vote o Women s suffrage we weren t allowed to vote o White primary only Caucasians no minorities were allowed to participate o Military vote hard to vote because they would not have home or because they didn t lived in texas for a year They could also have been deployed o Long residence requirement takes a year to become a resident o Property ownership you had to own property the Anglos were rich and owned property o Annual registration early registration you used have to register every year before now we only need to register once 30 days before the voting But if someone turns 18 after the deadline they wont be allowed to vote because they weren t registered Socioeconomic factors poor couldn t afford gas couldn t get off work under educated Ballot length voter fatigue We have a lot of people about 70 to vote for and we aren t going to take times to learn about all the people Political culture the set of political values and beliefs that is dominant in a society o Tradionalistic individualistic Primary Elections Historically we dint have a primary we had a caucus with political leaders who would have meetings and choose the nominee It wasn t a democracy because we are supposed to have a say So we go from caucus to primaries The primaries would hold a meeting the party leaders were selected as nominees to represent the party Then was direct where the voter actually elected their leader Primaries devices for electing political party nominees Historical types o Caucus o Party convention system o Direct In 1994 o You need 50 or more of the vote to win Primaries are winner take all and have to get a majority vote Who must hold a primary Any party receiving 20 of gubernatorial vote must win a primary This doesn t mean that if you re an independent party you can t get on the ballot its juts difficult In addition to holding a convention alternate parties must file a list of supporters equal to 1 of total gubernatorial vote in the last election o Supporters must be registered voters who have not participated You have to pay a fee to run for office It s expensive so that not everyone runs Since 1971 the stat treasury has funded the primaries Held in Texas on 2nd Tuesday of march super Tuesday Turnout in primaries is much lower than in general elections Must be won by 50 plus one vote majority A runoff occurs if no single candidates receive a majority of the votes o Top 2 candidates with the most votes participate o Takes places 2nd Tuesday in April o Won by a simple majority Two types of primaries o Closed texas is technically a closed primary You can t vote in more than one primary on Election Day Cannot switch parties on a run off We are not required to register for a party even if we are we don t have to vote in that party s primary o Open o Crossover voting occurs You could be a registered republican and vote for a democratic primary You might want to vote for the weakest candidate in the other party General Elections Administered by state and county governments These are won by plurality vote most but not half majority Held on 1st Tuesday after 1st Monday in November of even number years Held on non presidential election years midterm elections Special Elections Occur every once in a while Special elections are designed to meet special or emergency needs Non partisan no party involved for everyone No primary involved just an election Winners receive majority 50 plus one vote and if no one gets majority then we have a runoff The Conduct and Administration of Elections The secretary of state is the chief elections officer Board of elections arranges polling places and printing of ballots County commissioners court draws districts appoints election judges ad voting devices Two types of ballots o Party column o Office block Straight ticket voting when we go vote there is a little box that says I want to vote